Hasta La Vista S-Dub

Why we are getting rid of Saltwater (Why we decided to be businessmen and not hobbyists):

It's a bittersweet topic, really. We've had a great run. We've built aquariums, and relationships to go with them. We've made a lot of mistakes, but I'd say that we learned more from them than we lost. The economy is bad - yes - but truth be told the bad economy has had no negative impact on our business as far as we can tell. On top of that, it's never been about the money for us in this department, but if it's not... then why does it have to go?

We've always gotten flattering compliments from strangers who have been in (or around) the pet industry years. Something to the extent of "Most pet store owners are one of two things: 1. Hobbyists who love animals but have no business sense, and run their stores into the ground from poor planning and management or 2. Businessmen who want to make money, and don't care about the animals at all, and fail to meet one of the most basic needs for a successful business: passion for the product. I can tell that this store falls into neither of those categories, it seems like you have something really great going on here."

Like I said, pretty flattering. But in many regards also quite true. Being one of four functional owners - we had a fair likelyhood of meeting this description just by nature. We have our faithful financer (Dear Old Dad) who has virtually no interest in pets at all (don't worry, he doesn't hate them, he just wants his money back). We have Matt, who is well schooled in the art of Business, and could really never abandon his days of catching snakes and spiders in our back yard, or his inspiringly deep love for nature. We have Britt, who is driven by nothing if not her passion for people and animals. And we have myself - perfectly balanced in love for animals and my love for profits (I'm half dryad, half Ferengi). No but seriously, I'd say in all humility I'm well fit for the job.

When we started this out, we told ourselves that we were going to be the best. We set specific goals including all the obvious ... have the best customer service, best animal care, coolest store, yada-yada. An though becoming the best has been a much more long and difficult journey than we ever envisioned - at the end of the day I think that we are just that. We're the best - with so much better still to come.

And I think that's what it all really boils down to. There's so much better still to come... There is much that we do well, tons that we do better, and many areas that we are the best. Truth be told however, our S-dub department has never fit into any of those categories. Harsher truth be told, our S-dub department is a HUGE distraction from achieving those goals from both a monetary and emotional standpoint.

So that's why the saltwater department has to go. Someday, we'll have our dream come true: the best pet store in the Northwest, and when that day comes it will include the best saltwater department in the Northwest. It's a temporary sacrifice, and a good one for our business. We're getting rid of something pretty mediocre to have the best someday down the road.